Steel wheel.



W. H. WILLIAMS.

STEEL WHEEL. APPLIC-LTION FILED MAY 22, 1911. REHEW'ED JULY 23, 19l4;

Htented Mar. 16, 1915.

$HEET$ SHEET 1,

W. E. WILLIAMS.

STEEL WHEEL.

APPLIGATIONJILED MAY 22, 1911. RENEWED JULY 23, 1914.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

2 SEEETSSHEET 2.

iisrrnn s'rarss Parser fission.

tmnran nnasrus WIL IAMS, or cnrcaeo, rumors.

STEEL WHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed m 22, 1911, Serial a... 628,718. Renewed m 23, 1914.. Serial 1%. 852,762. a

T all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, Warner Enssrus WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at 501 Woodland Park, Chicago, .in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improve- 'ment in Steel Wheels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of wheels wherein a sheet steel center or web is suitably connected to the rim and the hub. This center or web,'formed in any suitable way, consists of a sheet metal disk provided with a central, hub-receiving, opening and having outwardly tapering, radial corrugations.

Wheels of the sheet disk pattern have heretofore been objectionable owing to the difficulty of securely fastening the disks to the hub and to the rim.

A very light weight of sheet metal may be used for the center or web'of the wheel if a complete union of the sheet can be made with the hub land the rim such as l accomplish.

Reference will be had to the accompanying drawings in which 1 Figure l is a perspective view of my corrugated sheet steel center; Fig. 2 is a central sectional crosssection of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a central cross-section through the finished wheel; Fig. 42 is a detailof a form of fastoning device used with automobile wheels;

Figs. 5' and 6 are erspective views of hub pieces before the parts are assembled; Fig. 7 is a detail in section showing the hub pieces assembled ready for beingunited together; Fig. 8 is the same as Fig. 7 after the parts are united; Fig. 9 is a detail in section of an alternative form of rim; Fig. 10 is a detail section of the rim showing the parts together but not united; Fig. 11 is the same as Fig. 10 after the parts are fastened or united together; Fig. 12 is a section through a complete wheel provided with a rim and hub such as is sometimes used for automobiles.

In the drawing, 1 designates my corrugated sheet steel center made of a uniform formed.

2 indicates the hub ring into which the corrugated disk is fastened; th1s ring 2 1s made oi the pieces 3 and 4, which are ro-. vided with projections 5 and 6 which fit'mto the corrugations of the, disk around the hub circumference. These rings 3 and 4: may be made in any suitable way but I prefer to make them of drop'forgings or stampings.

In making the rings 3 and 4 of stauipings, I may make them out of straight strips and then bend them into rings and weld their ends by electricity, or may use other methods. When the rings 3 and 4 are properly formed, they are placed in position over the corrugations of the disk at its center as in Fig. 7, and the inner marginal portion of the web and the adjacent parts of the hub are then fused or welded into an integral Patented Mar.1e,1e15.

mass, as suggested in Fig. 8, by means of an corrugated burns before'theheavier metal to which it e must be joined in a wheel, arrives at a welding temperature. 'But by joining the thin sheet on both sides by heavier stock to which the heat is applied, the thin sheet is protect ed from burning until'the whole section 1s brought to the required temperature. This arrangement of the rings and sheet permits the welding from the hub hole and thus permitsa complete union along the entire joint or seam 7, and saves any danger from 0x1- dation or burning or drawing of the temper of the sheet center at-the point 8 where therecomes the severest strain on the metal of the sheet. After the welding of the joint along the line 7, the hub hole 9 may be bored out, clearing it of the our of welding.

The rim or felly of my wheel may be any suitable rim or folly but I prefer to use a felly which may also be the rim or tire if desired, and be made chiefly of two forms. The preferred form shown is made of two rings of angle sections 10 and 11, Fig. 10, between which is clamped the pen hery oi the corrugated disk or center. form is shown in Fig. 9 and consists'of two rings of rectan lar cross-section which clamp between t em, the periphery 12 of the disk. After'the angle rings 10 and 1].- are placed upon the disk, I then proceed to spot weld the angles and disk as shown by spots 13. These spot welds may be ,made by any suitable means such as a blow torch as he other described by holding the torch in one spot till'a little pool of metal is melted at that point, but 1 prefer to use what is known spot electric welding for this purpose. Spot welding may also be used with the form of felly shown iii-Fig. 9 but Fig. 9 does not show it. Alter the spot welds are made in the flanges that embrace the sheet steel center, I then weld'by any suitable means or mecl'ianisin, the seam ll Fig. 10 entirely around the wheel. l prefer to use the blow I torch as described for this purposes, which melts little pool 15, 11 of metal along the seam all the way around the rim ofthe wheel which is slowly reyolved under the torch. lhis arrangen'ient ot the parts the burning and the oxidations of thethin sheet of the web as before described and makes a complete secure union of the parts. After the seamll is welded the rim may be turned, ground, or rolled to remove any bur that may be objectionable.

If an automobile tire rinror other extra tire or rim is to be uscdfit may be'secnred to the telly or wheel in any suitable man ner but I prefer to weld it to the inner rim orfelly b'y spot welds 10 like those as belore described.

For. automobile pu poses it may be desirable to use an extxa hub center such as is shown by 17 in iii the ring 2 being fitted to the hub 1''? up against a flange 18 and securely held therev by a nut 19 which may be provided. with flat spots for use with an ordinary wrench or holes for a spanner wrench. .lly this fastening a new wheel, rubber tire and all, may be quickly placed upon the hub as is sometimes done in place of changing rubber tires.

Instead of the fastening with the nut 19, I may use the fastening shown in Fig. t which is provided with a ring 20 held upon the hub' by bolts or screws 21 passing through into the flange 18 of the hub piece "17, Fig. 12.,

For light automobile wheels involving my invention it is necessary to consider only how thick the metal sheet center should be to resist accidental lateral indentation, the

least thickness on this account permissible having ample'loadsupportmg strength.

The weldin feature ot my invention may be used with advantage when plan sheets,

It is of imoortance that the ed e of the body sheet is connected to the ring members by weloing or fusing and that those mem- V bers overlap the body to some distance fromthe welding line and grip it mechanically, merely. By this construction, the gripped portion is allowed slightlateral movement between the free marginal portions of the ring members and while the advantages of inte ral union are retained, vibrations and strains are not sharply localized so as to produce fatigue or crystallization.

hat I claim is: Y

1. In a metal wheel, the combination with a centrally open sheet netal'wheel body, of two annular, registering wheel members upon opposite faces, respectively, of the marginal portion of said body, the marginal portiontot said body being welded to the adjacent members and said members laterally supporting without attachment thereto an. annular portion of the body alongside the weldin g line.

In a metal wheel, the combination with two annular, registering wheel members, of a sheet metal wheel body having its marginal portion closely held between said members and its edge, only, welded to, both; whereby slight lateral yielding of thebody at the'margins of said members is permitted and the injurious effect of strains and Vibrations is avoided. v p

lig, witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name at the city of Chicago on" this 18th day of May, 1911, in the presence of two subscrib ng witnesses. p

WHILIAM BEAST-US WP JAMS;

lVitnesses:

l/VINFIELD Si /VILLJZAMS, C. A. Roma. 

